A Program Crumbles, One Season After a Player’s Death

RIVERSIDE, Calif. — The hallmarks of a football season that had long since unraveled were plain to see. There was a young offensive lineman getting in the face of the quarterback, who had blamed a teammate for another play gone awry. There was a receiver yelling at a referee and slamming his helmet against the bench, indiscretions that led to his benching and a promise from the coach that the player would “see God” at practice on Monday.

Elsewhere, shoulders sagged, fingers pointed and resignation reigned.

The Arlington High School Lions, who had dropped their junior varsity squad because of a sharp decline in participation, were giving the appearance of a team withering away.

On Friday night, they lost for the eighth time in eight games, none of them close. Afterward, Coach Pat McCarthy, a self-described hardheaded Irishman with a bad heart and a blunt manner, offered the team his assessment.

“We have no passion,” said McCarthy, who had taken an early timeout to tear into his defense, hoping it might inspire his team. “It’s a bad thing if the most fired-up guy out there is a 55-year-old man with a heart condition.”

What separates Arlington from other struggling high school teams is that much of what has gone wrong can be traced to the start of last season, when Tyler Lewellen, a 16-year-old defensive back, died after sustaining a brain injury in a scrimmage.

With more attention being paid to football-related brain injuries, deaths like Lewellen’s are leading to broader questions about the nature of the game.

At Arlington, the effects linger — in subtle and deeper ways.

The Riverside Unified School District, which includes Arlington, has invested heavily in new helmets that are top rated for safety for its five high schools. The helmets cost about $270 each, and about 500 were purchased. The district is also seeking grants for helmet sensors that alert trainers to severe blows, and it has provided the financing for a trainer who attends every Arlington practice in addition to all its games.

The junior varsity team was dropped just before the start of the season because only 46 players went out for football, not enough to field both varsity and junior varsity squads. It was the smallest turnout in McCarthy’s 15 seasons. Last year, there were 73 players.

“There’s no question what happened to Tyler had an impact, but it’s hard to say how much,” said McCarthy, who also cited the school’s declining enrollment, a small senior class, academic casualties and more rigorous off-season workouts as reasons for the low turnout. “It’s been a perfect storm.”

Malik Patterson, a running back, receiver and cornerback last season, was the lone regular who did not return, choosing to focus on track. He said Lewellen’s death had no impact on his decision.

“My heart wasn’t in it anymore,” Patterson said. “It felt like a job. If you love the sport, you should be loving it every minute. I hated practice. The games were cool, but I didn’t love it as much as I used to.”

In interviews with more than 15 players, coaches and parents, no one identified a varsity or junior varsity player from last season who did not return because of safety concerns. But many cited such concerns as a reason for the drop in participation.

“I definitely know there were, but nobody’s going to say they’re scared,” said Raul Larios, a receiver who was one of Lewellen’s closest friends. “You know how high schoolers are. If you say you’re afraid, people will call you a punk and single you out. Nobody wants all that attention.”

Several players went out for the team this season despite having little experience. Dino Suarez, a senior linebacker who played football as a freshman, and Marina Woolbert, the backup kicker who has yet to play in a game, wanted to honor Lewellen’s memory.

“I’m on the edge of my seat every game,” said Delores Jones, the mother of running back Asante Coleman, who had never played football. During Friday night’s game, she was seated next to Kristal Morgan, whose son Isaiah is the team’s quarterback, and Sheri Davis, whose son Richie Watkins plays cornerback but was out with an injury.

The three women had made trips to emergency rooms with their sons the last three weeks: Asante for a headache, Morgan for an injured ankle and Watkins for a loss of feeling in his shoulder and neck.

“It was a battle in our house, and I lost the battle,” said Morgan, whose son was knocked unconscious in a junior varsity game last year and was taken by ambulance to a hospital. The effects of the concussion lingered for three months, but Isaiah said he was not worried because he had gained 25 pounds since last season and could protect himself better.

Player safety has been a defining issue in football in recent years, cutting across all levels, from Pop Warner to the N.F.L. Last year, ESPN reported that Pop Warner participation declined 10 percent nationwide between 2010 and 2012.

“There’s a heightened awareness that I think is happening everywhere,” said Bill Grisham, the Arlington athletic director. “But when something happens close to home like it did for us, it elevates fear.”

During a recent practice, Joey Flores, a senior receiver and defensive back, complained of a tingling sensation in his shoulder after a collision. He told the trainer, Matt Lee, who was along the sideline. Until this season, certified trainers were on hand only for games, and it was not necessarily the same one each week. But Lee, a recent graduate of Chapman University, is present every time the Lions take the field. He tapes ankles, reminds players to stay hydrated, and checks bumps and bruises. But mostly Lee builds relationships with players who are not much younger than he is.

“If I don’t have their trust, they’re not going to tell me everything I need to know,” Lee said.

When Flores was hurt, he told Lee after a few minutes that the numbness was getting worse and that his shoulder was stiffening and becoming painful. When he put his head down, he felt a grinding sensation, which Lee called a red flag.

So Lee called paramedics and stabilized Flores until they arrived. Flores was then transported to the hospital, but tests there showed the injury was not serious.

“You think he’s going to be O.K., but after last year, you re-evaluate how you think,” McCarthy said. “You’re not going to rub dirt on it anymore, huh?”

As an ambulance took Flores away, flashbacks to what happened to Lewellen — who was taken from the field in a similar manner — were impossible to suppress. “It was scary,” said the senior James Bonner, a 6-foot-3, 280-pound defensive lineman. “You’re thinking, ‘Oh, man, what’s going on?’ ”

How much of an impact this has all had on the Lions each Friday night is hard to pinpoint. There are 17 sophomores on the team — and only six senior starters — in a sport in which physical development is vital. But Arlington, which has the smallest enrollment in its league, reached the playoffs the last eight years not because it was bigger and faster than the other teams.

“Honestly, I keep feeling like every week this is our week,” said Remmy Nerio, a senior safety, captain and honor student who has scholarship offers from Montana State and Sacramento State. “But being 0-8 bums me out. If we lose and we’re playing hard, you can accept that. But we’ve got kids lashing out at coaches and refs, and at other players. Good football teams know when to shut their mouths. It’s just been a bad year.”

McCarthy carried the same frustrations away from the field Friday night, but he also knew it was his job to give his players a sense of hope. So he did not dwell on the mistakes and poor behavior for long. As McCarthy gathered his team at midfield, he told the players that the coaches would come up with a plan to beat Valley View on Friday. He did not need to mention that their opponent had won only one game all season.